Dealing With Company Reorganization

Companies that grow are like getting a new box of Lego’s. You can’t go on just using the old Lego’s…the new box brings with it new parts and colors and challenges to build even bigger and better things than you could with the old box.

Companies often need to reorganize their work teams as they grow. There are new clients, bigger demands of time and resources, but a need to maintain the qualities that made your company worthy of that growth in the first place. Great ideas still need to flourish. There still must be the agility and the velocity that made clients want to do business with you. Reorganization should not also include added bureaucracy.

But the Devil is in those details—even with a 1,000-year history of farms and businesses and armies and Continental Congresses and Cub Scout Troops—nobody’s ever found the “perfect” way to reorganize.

There are just too many variables. Do you organize by client? And if so…by geographical territory? By industry? By size of the client? By existing relationships?

Or do you organize to create the best internal teams…hoping that better internal systems lead to better overall client relationships?

(Often, you can’t have it both ways.)

So the most-important thing to remember about any reorganization might be this: “Don’t expect it to be perfect.”

Once it happens, you will need to accept the changes. Ron Ashkenas of the Harvard Business Review offers this advice in his recent blog “You’ve Been Reorganized. Now What?”:
1. Appreciate the initial complexity and confusion. Expect it.
2. The reorg was done for a reason…how can you best satisfy that reasoning in your new role?
3. Keep an eye out for new/better processes.

Somebody really famous once said, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women are merely players. They have their exits and their entrances. And one man in his time plays many parts.”

Comments

Any blog that starts with a comparison to a new set of legos is a winner in my book! I completely agree you have to expect confusion as these things never have black and white answers. Flexibility and best intentions are key.